Recently, markets of liquid crystal display devices and other flat-panel display devices grow rapidly. In particular, sharply growing are the markets of small and medium sized ones including those used in mobile phones, personal digital assistants and car navigation systems. In a manufacturing process of the flat-panel display devices, display panels proper or without annexes are manufactured and then mounted with connector boards such as flexible printed circuit boards (FPC) as to form display panels with annexes. Subsequently these are assembled with backlight devices or the like to form “display panel modules”. In common circumstances, processes for the display panels proper, the display panel modules and final or consumer products are made in manufacturing facilities or compounds separate with each other. Thus, display panels proper and display panel modules are transported between them.
For transporting the display panels or the like, so-called traveling trays have been widely used, each of which has a plurality of receptacles. Please see JP-2002-332023A, JP-2004-018094A, JP-2002-337951A, which are Japanese unexamined patent publications. JP-2002-332023A, for example, discloses that receptacles are formed in a matrix manner on a small-depth traveling tray having elasticity, and display panels (display panels proper of its modules) are respectively fitted into the receptacles in a stable manner. In this way, damage or fracture on the display panels due to mechanical shocks or vibrations are curbed even during transportations by trucks, railways or airplanes. Also curbed is coming out of the panels from the receptacles due to the mechanical shocks or vibrations. Please see the JP-2004-018094A for example.
For miniature electronic parts such as semiconductor packages, various investigations are made for using carrier tapes in packaging and transportation of such parts. Please see JP-2003-095216A, JP-2001-348008A for example. The carrier tape is a tape of plastic film provided thereon with a row of receiving recesses in a constant interval. A cover film is used, when necessary, as to be air-tightly attached on fringes of the carrier tape for sealing off the miniature electronic parts such as semiconductor packages, as shown in the JP-2003-095216A. The receiving recesses may be formed by embossing process as in the JP-2003-095216A; or by punching a base film and then attaching an underlying film on such punched film, as shown in the JP-2001-348008A.
In otherwise, JP-2001-348008A proposes a method using a thin and flat band of stainless steel in place of the carrier tape. Semiconductor chips are placed on the band with a certain interval and then retained as covered with a cover film that is attached on the band. The JP-2001-348008A reads that, in this way, fracture or chipping away is curbed which otherwise be caused by collision among the semiconductor chips; and also reads that the band of steel with the semiconductor chips thereon may be wound around a reel.
The carrier tapes mentioned before are transported in a state being wound around a reel, after a process of placing of the electronic parts respectively in the receiving recesses on an embossed tape or the like and attaching the cover film, as shown in JP-2004-231257A.
Meanwhile, so-called cell cassettes or cell racks have been used for containing the display panels, glass substrates or other intermediate products, when the transportation is made among near-by facilities or near-by process lines within a same building or in a same compound. Please see JP-2000-310785A. The cell rack is formed of a rectangular casing that has a front opening and inward projections on right-hand and left-hand sidewalls, the projections being elongated in a front-rear direction as to catch dozens of the panels or the like that are vertically arrayed in the casing. When for subjecting the display panel or the like to vacuuming process or heating process or the like, the cell rack arrayed with the panels or the like is placed in a chamber for the vacuuming or the heating.
Conventional methods of using the traveling tray or the carrier tape require that dimensions of the electronic or electric parts almost agree with corresponding dimensions of the receiving recesses. Thus, in response to every switching or changing among types or variations of the electronic or electric products, the trays or tapes having other dimensions of receiving recesses have to be prepared. Meanwhile, the carrier tapes are designed to be solely applicable for miniature-sized electronic or electric parts, thus are difficult to be given with shock absorbency. Hence, no other method than using the traveling trays is imaginable when to transport electronic or electric parts such as the display panels, which have rather large dimensions and are highly susceptible to fracture or damage.
The transportation with the traveling trays causes generation of dusts or particles because edges of the display panel abrade catching surfaces of the trays. Moreover, the transportation system using the traveling trays requires sending back of emptied ones of the traveling trays if to be reused instead of abandoning them; for example after the traveling trays are used for transporting the display panel modules from its production sites to a worksite the consumer products are assembled. In particular, the traveling tray is not able to be baled in a folded-in or compressed form so that procedures of sending back the trays require large space in loading and high cost. Additionally, it is rather difficult to seal off inside of the traveling trays, thus is not easy to avoid intrusion of small particles or of moisture. For enabling the sealing off, it requires a procedure of wrapping up the traveling trays in a piled-up state, with a thick resin sheet, for example.
Meanwhile, the method of attaching electronic parts on a steel sheet is solely applicable to non-fragile ones such as the semiconductor chips having an enough thickness. This method should be not applicable to the display panels as needless to say, and even to semiconductor chips having thin configuration. Moreover, weight load in transportation increases due to use of the steel sheet.
At a worksite for loading the electronic or electric products as to be filled into the traveling trays, it requires a space for piling up the traveling trays before and after the loading. A procedure of the loading in a sequential manner requires sequential shifting of loading position as well as taking a not-filled one of the traveling trays on an already filled one. Thus, the procedure of the loading is troublesome and requires a lot of working load. Even when using a robot arm, it requires a complicated process.
The method of using “cell racks” for transportation to and from near-by sites requires less workload for the loading procedure. Nevertheless, the method requires spaces for placing and storing the cell racks. When dimensions of the display panel is changed or switched to another ones, the cell racks have to be de-assembled and reassembled so as distance between the sidewalls and/or projection-wise dimensions of the projections on the sidewalls to be adjusted. In otherwise, the cell racks are switched over to another ones in preparation. However, it requires a large stock of the cell racks in various dimensions, thus also increasing spaces for the cell racks. Such reassembling requires a considerable work time and skilled work because precise adjustment is needed. In the cell racks, glass substrates or display panels formed thereof may collide with or abrade inner wall faces of the cell racks so as to cause problems such as fracture or chipping off on glass substrates and forming of “shaving” or dust particles.
In view of the above drawbacks, it is aimed to cope with change or variations on dimensions of the electronic or electric parts in a swift manner with low cost, to curb damages on the parts and dust formation, and to omit or decrease costs for reusing the packages or containers.